Guild XIII
by Anaxn
Summary: Even after Organization XIII was defeated, Heartless still roamed the cities. And where Heartless exist, they create nobodies. Thirteen new nobodies rise from the blood of their bodies, each only wishing for life, and create a new group: Guild XIII.
1. Others, For Once

Anna smiled, golden hair crowding her face as she watched her friends with her blue-green eyes, twelve all together. She sat on a wooden box in the corner, the abandoned little part of her world all around her. It was technically an old shack that they had found in the city, cement walls and stuff. The ceiling has fallen down long ago and the entire group of friends had helped clean it up. There were boxes all over the place for sitting, not that people did much of that. Most of them chased each other the entire time. One of her best friends, Julia, had red brown hair down to the middle of her back, red streaks in it, even though her mom didn't support the idea. Julia was probably the most hyper of them all, but when she got depressed, she was the worst. Katie, her other best friend, was a bit quieter, but still loved laughing. She had waist length, almost black hair and was definitely the stale pin of the group. When she got angry, something was definitely wrong. Then there was Chris. He was one of the only boys that regularly hung out with her group. His bowl cut like brown hair would inevitably be messed up by the time they left the group. He could annoy the crap out of anyone, his current target being Julia, who, as always, was mauling his hairstyle as revenge. Then there was Cadie, the sadist of the group. You wouldn't guess it, with her middle back length blond hair, but she could be genuinely evil. She too, was assisting in the killing of Chris's hair, with Garath, the second oldest in the group watching. He had black very curly hair to his shoulders, with dark eyes to match. His was a quiet disposition, with the occasional outburst of energy. Currently sitting next to Katie was Jessica, another quiet member of the group. She had black hair a bit longer than her shoulders, and loved drawing. Ryan was sitting with them as well, criticizing their drawings and was consequently getting beaten up for it. He had short dark brown hair, with almost black eyes. Nathalie and the other shorter Katie, called Katie F. to differentiate between the two, were in another corner, arguing. Again. Nathalie had light brown hair, done in a large ponytail down to her back. She and Katie, with curly dark brown hair, were always fighting over something. Kelly and Cat were in another corner of the gutted room. Cat was older than all of them by about three years, with auburn hair to her shoulders, and wasn't afraid to take charge of the entire situation. Kelly, on the other hand, was quiet, and didn't like to speak. Her muted blond hair seemed to complete her image. Anna frowned. Someone should be here, not that they could. Autumn, her one time best friend. After she found her parents at Hollow Bastion, they had moved her here without even visiting Windy City, leaving Autumn and her memory behind. Anna sighed. She wished she could see Autumn once more. Suddenly the conversation in the corner caught her attention.

"Those black things, with yellow eyes, they scared me…" Kelly said, clenching her hands in front of her chest.

"They're called Heartless, baka!" Julia said, giving Chris's hair another tug. Julia and Kelly had always been on bad terms, and nobody quite knew why. Anna, Katie, Julia, Chris and Cadie's eyes all narrowed, though, at the mention of the word. Heartless, the servants of the nobodies of Organization XIII. Each of them had heard of the group, but there was a specially guarded secret about it. Julia, Katie and Anna had all encountered Organization XIII before, and on friendly terms as well. Of course, this was strictly private; no one shared this information with each other.

"Hey guys, the sun's starting to go down." Anna said, attracting everyone's attention, for which Chris was grateful for, as Julia finally let go of his hair.

"Let's get home."

"Fine." Julia said, starting towards the door, while Cadie gave Chris one last mocking grin before heading out the entrance. Everyone began to file out, heading towards their own house and saying their reluctant goodbyes. Suddenly there was a scream and shadows leapt at the rest of the group, Kelly already pinned under one of them. They had bright yellow eyes, the Heartless previously mentioned, and immediately attacked the group of friends. With screams, they all fled except Julia and Cadie, who were still trying to fight. Anna herself ran down an alley, headed for home, when she was cornered. Nathalie and Ryan grimaced, surrounded by the creatures, while Katie F. and Cat still ran, followed by the Heartless. Chris and Katie had tried to hide, unsuccessfully, while Garath and Jessica were trapped in a dead end. Suddenly the creatures pounced, screams of pain, then silence.


	2. A Second Time?

Darkness enshrouded her form, lying motionless spread eagled on the ground. Suddenly, the street lights blazed on, bombarding her eyes and making solar flashes appear behind her eyelids. Her mouth twisted into a snarl and her blue eyes snapped open angrily, wondering what woke her from the blackness she was so accustomed to. She saw the street lights and wondered where she had ended up since fighting Sora. She got up, immediately noticing the change of dress. Instead of her Organization cloak, she had black pants and boots, complete with a dark blue, almost black shirt. Her familiar silver wind design was woven into it, and a black loose cloak with a hood was draped around her. Hearing a slight jingle, she looked down to see a silver chain, with a set of wings hanging from her neck. Feeling something tap her chin, she lifted her hand to feel a set of matching wings hanging from her ears. Her eyes narrowed, tan shoulder length hair framing her face. A memory placed itself in her mind, amid her true memories and ones she had experienced herself. Her other and Sora, meeting again. She remembered seeing Roxas for the last time, being able to say goodbye, and was grateful to the other side of her heart for this favor. But still, how did she end up here?  
She bent down, picking up her bow and arrows, and slinging them over her shoulder carefully. Her other, Anna, must have lost her heart again. The girl sighed. Only fourteen years old and already lost her heart twice. Why did she become a nobody in the first place, bringing this side of her heart into existence? The girl scrounged her true memory for clues and was reminded of a girl, with long red hair and a name she had a hard time remembering. Autumn. That was her other's best friend, and her reason to keep going, even without a heart. The girl sighed, resolve hardening in replacement of her nonexistent heart. That was how she was going to become whole again. Reunite her other with her best friend. It was the least she could do for being reunited with Roxas, if only for a little while. After all, this empty feeling of nothingness grew tiring after a while. As she passed the street lamps, they lit up her tattoos, red lines going from her eyes to her chin representing loss. Still, this wasn't where she last was. Where was she? And what happened to the Organization? Turning the corner, she almost gasped, seeing the remnants of souls scattered around. This was impossible. How could so many people have strong enough hearts, and reasons to live? It was unheard of since the Organization. Hearing a noise, she swiftly pulled an arrow from her quiver, nocking it and slowly walking around the corner. The unnamed girl saw nothing, not even the Heartless that left her this way, and her tattooed eyes narrowed, following the shadowed corridors to find the source of the noise, ignoring the unconscious beings around her. Turning another corner, she saw two Nobodies, like herself, staring warily at her. Her bow lowered slightly and she coldly asked,  
"Who are you two?" One, with brown hair down to her shoulders and dark brown eyes, one covered by her bangs, was a bit taller, with a knee-length zip-up black cloak with no sleeves. She had black pants and knee high boots, complemented by a set of belts. The most unusual feature, though, was a set of armored pads on her shoulders. She pointed at her head, reminding the girl of a certain annoying red haired nobody.  
"The name's Kitexa, of Organization XIII, K-I-T-E-X-A. Got it memorized?" Ugh. She even talked like him.  
"And you?" She said, referring to the other one. Her hair was multicolored, purple in front and red in back, with red eyes that the girl could see, despite one of them being covered by hair, again. She had a strange tattoo on her right eye, an upside-down question mark with a dot on the inside. She wore jeans, a chain hanging from one of the belt loops, and combat boots. Fishnet sleeves decorated her arms, then covered by black elbow length sleeves, and then red short sleeves, whose v-cut shirt was angled over the left side. She held out her hand cheerily.  
"Luxaji of Organization XIII, at your service." The girl stared at it icily, and Luxaji retracted the hand, wincing slightly. The girl turned around, walking back around the corner.  
"Hold on a second! You know our names, so what's yours?" Kitexa asked, she and Luxaji following the girl, who stopped a second, and turned around, revealing her blood tattoos again.  
"Anaxn, of Organization XIII." She turned again, returning to the gutted city corner she had woken up near.

"Wait a second. If we're all from the Organization XIII, how come we don't already know each other?" Luxaji asked, but Anaxn refused to reply, not knowing the answer herself. Kitexa gasped as she stopped next to her, viewing the Nobodies still unconscious on the concrete.  
"So many…." She whispered as Luxaji pulled up beside them, covering her mouth in surprise. There was silence for a second as they absorbed the shock.  
"How is this possible? The Organization was the last of the Nobodies…weren't they?" Luxaji questioned, turning to the two taller nobodies.  
"I'm not sure." Anaxn said decisively, a dark portal swirling up at her will.  
"But I'm going to find out." Striding through the portal, the other two glanced at each other, then followed.


	3. Alexandra

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.  
Alexandra Salazar's pencil hovered over her work with a sort of stubborn defiance. She could not do it. No more tonight. Too much homework. Too late at night.  
It was far more than what she had to do a scarce year ago. A year ago everything was different. She had help with her homework. There weren't any accelerated courses to struggle through. There wasn't the cooped-up house that her parents confined her to.  
A year ago, her family was on financial aid. They could barely afford their apartment rent and schooling for their child. A year ago she had an algebra tutor (by the name of Anna) and she had friends to help her with hard problems. Her family was poor, but happy and fulfilled. Her parents were artists; enlightened but not very financially supportive.  
Then, all at once, everything changed.  
Her parents won the lottery. In a heartbeat, they were billionaires. You would think it would bring happiness. But all it brought for Alex was corruption.  
She was moved away from Windy City and transferred to a mansion in Sandstone Heights: the mountains to the west. With the money came social standing and suddenly her parents were somebody, popular and admired celebrities. They brought in the finest teachers for Alex, so she could, one say, be somebody too.  
That wasn't how Alex saw it, though. Alex saw the family she loved warp and change into something foul and repulsive. It was slowly shredding her sanity and breaking her heart, bit by bit. The newfound riches cost her her friends, her freedom, and her life. Her parents _weren't_ somebody; they had stopped listening to what made them human. They were just idle puppets with a fortune.  
She missed her old home. The ever-growing mounds of calculus made her miss her old friends. Alexandra missed her life.  
Glancing slowly at her ticking clock (12:30), she put her homework away and slipped on her sneakers. The green marble floor was too cold without them, and she was just too lazy to dig her slippers out of her closet. She descended the many stairs down into her own front hall.  
While pouring a glass of water to drink in the kitchen, the breeze filtered through the window screen over the sink and touched her face. It had been feeling very harsh and cold lately, and she wondered if the people in the city far below were too remarking on the otherworldly chill. Alex didn't know, actually; cooped up in the house no one gave her any source of news. Even the weather channel was blocked.  
It reeked of conspiracy, Alex thought. Her parents were purposely keeping her in the dark. But that was fine. She would figure it out eventually. Besides, in some ways she liked the dark.  
She approached the stairs again to climb back to her room, hoping that no one saw her slacking off. Unfortunately, hopes rarely come true on wish alone.

"Alexandra Brody Salazar," her mother said suddenly out from around the corner, "what are you doing up this late?"  
The girl froze as she left foot creaked the first stair slightly. "Nothing mom," she assured. "Just getting some water before I turn in."  
"You have a perfectly good bathroom in your room; please use it next time," her mother said haughtily. "Have you finished your homework?"  
"No."  
The word was like a slap to the face for the older woman. She drew back in shock at the show of defiance.  
"Excuse me?" she questioned with a little acid. "What was that?"  
Alex looked back with the look of a soul that was snapping. Tonight was the night. She couldn't stand it anymore. "I'm not done with my homework, mom," she said. "And I won't be any time soon."  
Her mother was aghast. "Honey, you know that the work is to help you be someone that the world will accept and love!"  
"Mom, going through drills doesn't help you be 'somebody', it helps you earn money. There's a difference."  
"Don't you mouth off-"  
Alex deftly cut her statement to ribbons. "-and crush your ego?" she shot down. "I've been shut in this house for months now. How are my old friends in Windy City?"  
Her mother hesitated.  
"You shouldn't worry about them. They aren't-"  
"-Anybody. Sure. I see. Now that I'm rich, I can't talk to peons anymore, right?"  
"It's not safe for you out there anymore!"  
That surprised Alex. What could her mother have meant? "Huh?"  
"You shouldn't have to- you don't ever have to leave the heights again! You're somebody!"  
Still hiding things, Alex noted.  
"Mom, being somebody doesn't mean being rich or living in a fancy gated community…"  
The girl walked to her front door and opened it a crack. Her mother was in shock. It was finally happening. Her girl had actually lost herself.  
"… It means listening to your heart. And if you won't give me answers, I'll find my own."  
The woman could only watch as the door slammed and the engine of a moped flared outside. As the din faded, she knew one thing.  
Alexandra Salazar was gone.

It was a black, almost a dark grey, that bore depressively down on them when they exited the swirling door. Dark buildings loomed above them, no light visible anywhere. Tredding the cracked concrete of a disused and abandoned road, they immediately noticed the lack of light, caused by the large glowing Kingdom Hearts not being suspended in the sky. The World-That-Never-Was had changed, darkness prevailing over light in the final battle. Halting at the edge of a precipice, they looked up to see nothing, where something should be.  
"Well that settles it." Kitexa said, staring where the Castle-That-Never-Was should be.  
"The Organization is no more."

The 'formidable, symbolic, and historical' rocky wall that had separated Sandstone Heights from the rest of the world rarely ever saw challenge. Some parts of it overlooked sheer bluffs, but the wall in of itself was only seven feet tall. Still, no one dared violate it. It was a sacred and hallowed to the residents; physical divide between prince and pauper.  
Most of the men standing at the gate were looking for me, Alex thought as she hid her moped in an immaculately manicured bush. No trusting other people. She was going crazy, she told herself; what were odds and risks to her?  
She had to get back to Windy City. That was the only objective. One of her friends would take her in, at least until it all blew over. Her parents would get over it all. They may have been snobs lately for her, but they were not heartless.  
Yes, she thought. I definitely am going crazy.  
One hand over the other, Alex began to climb the 'invincible' wall. Her arms screamed, but there was no other way. Really, she didn't understand how a seven-foot wall could protect an entire army of snobs.  
It wasn't even that hard. She didn't even have to look up. It was a short climb, like up a bunk bed. However, not looking ahead was, in the end, ill-advised. Only when she stood on top of the wide wall did she turn her glance to the moonlit land ahead of her.  
It was black. The world was shadowed and dismal, even with the over-bright light from the sky pouring down upon it. The fields below caught the cold wind and blew it down to a once-beautiful city. Now all that remained was a sinister, solemn expanse of ruins, tall buildings dark and half-collapsed.  
Windy City.  
Alex stepped forward as if to try and approach her crushed hopes, only to forget she was standing on top of a wall. By some stroke of luck, she caught a rough stone and hung. The wall dropped below her to an abrupt cliff, a million miles sheer. In the dark, the ground was as good as nonexistent.  
She did not have to hang long before the situation plunged deeper into the realms of horror.  
With a bit of curiosity, she noticed the shadows around her swell and pool, something corporal rising out of the deep and infesting the wall's face. They scuttled around like enormous ants, jerking in erratic spasms. Their hides were deeper black than any India ink she had ever seen or had even imagined: rendering the night-gray surroundings bright in comparison. In some hellish counterpoint, their eyes were twin wolf-yellow points of piercing feral need.  
Not the sort of creatures that were usually friendly.  
She screamed as one took a cruel swipe and wrenched her from her precarious handhold, scarlet blossoming in a twisting stream through the air from a brand-new wound. Falling, falling, falling… as the wind whipped through her auburn hair she closed her eyes and accepted that she was going to die. Even though she didn't want to.  
Which was why when her chest was torn open and her heart ripped out, she didn't wince at the pain.


	4. A Gathering of Nothing

The Organization was gone, obliterated in their attempts to regain their hearts via Kingdom Hearts. The question posed now was how to get their hearts back. This was a Herculaneum task, if not an impossible one. At least, not without help. Anaxn viewed the unconscious nobodies, the first ones starting to stir. Luxaji and Kitexa were checking the others. The one to the right of her groaned, pushing himself to his hands and knees, teal hair draping over his shoulder. He stumbled to his feet, clunky combat boots unbalancing him.  
"Where the hell am I?"  
"I don't know." He whirled around, black cloak wrapping around him and hourglass clasp flashing.  
"Who the hell are you?" He asked. He was lithe, with black jeans and a slightly tight black tank top. Following the black theme were his black fingerless gloves, watches adorning the backs. His dark brown eyes shifted from his surroundings, to the other nobodies, and finally to Anaxn.  
"What the Hell is going on here?" Anaxn ignored him, diverting her attention instead to another nobody, who had risen to her knees, holding her head.  
"Did I get hit on the head with a brick? 'Cause if I did, someone is dying." She growled, getting up and glaring at the world with her violet eye. The lower half of her face was covered by a mask, as was her right eye by a blue band. Short black hair, fiery streaks running through it, was cropped short at ear length. A stiff looking school-type shirt ran down her front, matched only by the straight-legged pants she wore. Her wild side seemed revealed only by the combat boots she wore.  
"Who are you people?" She asked, looking from the boy to Anaxn."I don't know who she is, but I'm…" The rest of the conversation was lost to her ears as the last nobody lifted her head, then set it down again in exhaustion. Long brown hair fell messily from her head to her knees as she lifted up in a sitting position, then fell back. Anaxn walked over, offering a hand to the girl, who looked up with dark purple eyes, then got up with her help. White lab coat folding around her feet, her blue shirt was adorned by constellations marked brightly on the dark blue cloth. Nodding silently, Anaxn turned and left her standing there, heading towards the other corridors of the ruined city. A few figures were making their way down the left road, which is what had brought Anaxn's attention away from the girl in the first place.

Kitexa was leading three other nobodies. All three were girls, and one was as tall as her, if not taller, with black hair and pink tips. Another wore a coat eerily similar to the Organization's that was matched by black hair tipped in blue, and the third… Anaxn twitched slightly. The third was wearing a frilly yellow dress, starkly different from her bright blue hair.  
"What the hell is that?" The male nobody behind Anaxn whispered, no doubt in response to the dress. Anaxn walked over to Kitexa, who smiled and almost snapped to attention, which almost surprised her.  
"And they are?"  
"Uh, I haven't asked them yet." Kitexa said, scratching her head. Anaxn shook her head, knowing she hadn't done so either. Noticing the shadows falling on the ground, Anaxn turned to see Luxaji leading another platoon of nobodies. One of them was leaning on her, obviously annoying her for some reason or another. The girl had gold hair and her outfit was every shade of brown imaginable. Two guys followed behind them, each interesting in their own right. The shorter of the two, which wasn't saying much for they were both very tall, was quite tan and had sunglasses covering his eyes. A black trench coat covered his body, but he was walking bare foot. Very strange. The other had spiky orange hair but the most interesting part of him was his right arm, which was entirely made of metal. Releasing the female nobody and letting her stumble, Luxaji stomped over to Anaxn, who seemed to have taken charge of the entire situation, and growled.  
"Here they are. Just keep the girl away from me." Anaxn raised an eyelid at the burst of speech, for it seemed like emotion. Passing it off as the recent loss of heart, Anaxn strode to the front of the group. Having reached it, she turned.  
"I suppose only a few of you know what has happened to you. You have just lost your heart to the darkness, and have been left as the empty husk. We are called Nobodies, and I don't know how to fix this."

There was a sort of numbed silence as they stared blankly at her, then hushed whispers trickled through their ranks.  
"Well what do we do now?" The female in the mask asked gruffly.  
"First I believe that we should join together to perhaps find a way to regain our hearts. Until then, we should find a place to live." Anaxn raised her hand, pulling up a large portal of darkness amid gasps of surprise.  
"There's a world behind this doorway to darkness and that is where we will live. It has a history with much to do about an organization that came before us." Anaxn paused for a moment, her mind going back to her experience with the Organization.  
"Come, let's go." She turned, walking through the darkness. Everyone else hesitated, unsure of what to do. They had really only existed for a few minutes or so. Then Kitexa strode to the front of the group, mirrored by Luxaji on the other side. With the major leaders giving them courage, the bravest of them crossed the portal as well and finally, the entire coalition had walked through the blackness. Anaxn led the dozen of them through the deserted city, stumbling noises, the clattering of stone and a few swears following behind her in the darkness. As she turned the corner, she paused and glanced up, as the ground in front of her was lit up The group behind her also stopped and whispered amazement hung around them. A huge three story castle stood before them, two towers spiraling up on either side of it. Light shone from bright windows with panes with roman numerals, and a bright pyramid made of glass on the roof. An especially large window stood on the second floor, crossed by a set of vines reminiscent of the sign for the Heartless. The arched entrance doors were made of two stones colors, dark blue as the back, and a brighter yellow heart with the two arches.  
"Welcome to the Desolate Castle."


	5. Anaxn and Desolate Castle

"Woah, this is so cool!"  
"Check it out, a tea table!"  
"Tea?! Where?!" Anaxn could hear their shouts even as she stood in the entrance hall. The more energetic of the nobodies were downstairs checking out the common room, which was outfitted with plenty of electronics as well. The downstairs also had two other rooms, one a laboratory for Sicjexas, the nobody in the lab coat she had help up. The other room was a meeting hall, which pleased her, but it had no windows. Well, not everything could be perfect. The entrance hall had pillars leading to the large set of stairs that went all the way up the building. The kitchen and dining room were to the right of the hall, while the training hall was to the left, very well equipped for its twelve occupants. Kexlly, the girl in brown, also lived on the first floor, being more comfortable on ground level. Although there were eleven other members, Anaxn already had memorized their names. The second floor had the boys, Xurikus the green haired bad mouth, Naryx the barefoot with the trench coat, and Xathreg, the orange haired symbiotic. Also on that floor lived Sicjexas, Xetaik with her blue hair and yellow dress, Tasirxt, the girl with the high ponytail and pink tips, and Dekayx, the gruff girl with the mask. The boy's and girl's bathrooms were on this floor, as well as the boy's shower room. At the end of the hall was the vine marked window. The third floor had the girl's shower room at the end of the hall, as well as the library to the left of the stairs. It only had two computers, but the walls were literally lined with books. Anaxn herself had found copies of Ansem's reports amid the hard bound books. Naxelaith, the girl with blue tips and a coat similar to the Organization's, Luxaji and Kitexa also lived on this floor, as well as an empty room that no one could open. Two sets of stairs could be found on this floor, the one in the library leading to the observation tower, while the one at the end of the right hall led to Anaxn's tower.

Sighing, Anaxn prepared to head back up the stairs, for exercise was always better than merely opening a portal. She had announced that there would be a meeting tomorrow morning, but no one had really paid attention. Which was why Anaxn had planned it for eight o'clock in the morning. And there would definitely be punishments for those who were late.  
Her necklaces jingled as she walked up the stairs, ignoring the shouts of joy from the basement as they probably playing some sort of virtual game down there. As she passed the locked door, she paused, wondering why there seemed to be dust on it, very out of place for a brand new castle. Shaking her head, she climbed up to her tower. Her bed was on the other side of a curtain dividing the room, and as she turned, she saw that the half of the wall facing away from the observatory was actually one large window, complete with a half deck similar to the one that surrounded the other tower. Sliding open the glass door, she walked out into the darkness and stood there, gazing at the world that was now essentially under her command. The wind picked up around her and she amplified it, causing her cloak to whip and her hair to whirl. If she was in Windy City, autumn would be coming.


	6. Kitexa and the Past

The door jam rattled violently and Kitexa woke with a start, jolted from her dream of empty fire and heartless water. Getting up and tossing the covers off her bed, she walked to the shaking door and opened it, confused as to what was happening outside. But as soon as she even turned the handle, the door flew open, battering the hinges as it leapt away from the bitter wind whipping down the hall. Looking out the doorway, she caught sight of Anaxn storming down her stairs, red tattoos the only clue that she was the one hiding in the tempest.  
"Anaxn, what's going on?" The storm around Kitexa's door halted and Anaxn glanced at her.  
"There's a meeting this morning, at eight. Now."  
"I didn't hear about it!""You probably weren't listening when I announced it last night." With this, she turned and walked down the hall again, wind still trying to knock down doors to walk the other nobodies up. By the time Naxelaith's blue tinged head popped out the door, Kitexa had closed hers, sighing and lazily grabbing her black clothes from her dresser. Sliding the black boots on, she then zipped up the knee length cloak she always wore. As she pulled a dark pool up in her room, Kitexa heard someone yell loudly,  
"What the hell was that, damn it!?"

When she got to the meeting room, it was much quieter. Sicjexas was sitting quietly in the second chair at the left hand side of the table, her hair dripping over her shoulders as she nodded absent mindedly. Xathreg had his head on the table, sitting to the immediate right of the front of the table. Kitexa took the seat next to Sicjexas and across from Xathreg, too tired to bother trying to talk with either of them. One by one the other nobodies drifted into the room. Xetaik walked in, sitting in the fifth seat on the left, actually seeming to be awake. Then again, with the bright colors she wore, it was probably hard not to be awake. Sleepwalking into the room, Tasirxt pulled out the chair next to Xathreg and plopped her chin in her hands, closing her eyes. Kitexa watched as Kexlly and Dekayx arrived simultaneously. Dekayx settled to the right of Tasirxt, closing her visible eye and slumping over in her seat. Kexlly sat at the left end of the table, merely sighing and sliding down in the high backed seat. Although three chairs were still empty, Anaxn opened the doors with a slight bang and glided towards the end of the table. Although the sound had woken a few of the nobodies up, Xathreg still had his head on the table and Dekayx had only just looked up. A slightly disgruntled Naryx with rumpled hair had followed her in, sprawling across the fourth seat on the left between Naxelaith and Xetaik, who had been glaring at each other for some reason.  
"Where's Xurikus?" Anaxn asked, pulling out her high backed chair and sitting down.  
"Here." Grumbled a slightly unconscious male nobody who had just arrived. His sleeveless top had been put on hastily, his cloak only draped over one shoulder, and it almost looked like his shoes had been put on the wrong feet.  
"And Luxaji?" There was silence as Xurikus flopped sleepily in the fourth seat on the right, next to Dekayx. Anaxn sighed, shaking her head.  
"I'll give her five minutes. Then someone will have to go get her." The entire table, except for Kitexa herself, Xetaik and Kexlly, all then rested their heads on the table, some with a loud bang. Only silence was heard in the room besides the faint breathing of the group. No one spoke, as none had really expected the meeting to be this early in the morning. That, or they had not expected the meeting at all. Five minutes dragged by and finally Anaxn looked at Xathreg.  
"Xathreg." Silence.  
"Get up." There was a sudden blast of wind and Xathreg sat bolt upright, his hair shot back in spikes.  
"Eh? Wha? What happened?" Kitexa tried to refrain from giggling, but some of the others were still in shock, unaware of what nobodies could do.  
"Go get Luxaji from her room on the third floor. Take a right, then the second door on the right." He blinked a few times then stood, walking bewilderedly out the door. Anaxn shook her head, slightly annoyed while Kitexa just laughed. His hair had certainly been a sight to see. They waited a few minutes before they heard a crash. Xurikus almost fell out of his chair, but by the time the second boom came, which shook the castle entirely, he had secured himself in his seat by gripping the bottom tightly. Anaxn calmly closed her eyes, waiting until…. A sound like a guitar amplified about a hundred times rang through the castle, followed by mortar falling from the ceiling. Kitexa jumped, sparks flying from her fingertips from the sheer surprise of the force. How did he make that noise? This time a small thump accompanied it, as well as the vague sound of shouting.  
"She's up." Xathreg said, coming back into the room, his hair finally back to normal. Just as he sat down, Luxaji opened the doors, not even dressed yet. She had a cup of tea in one hand, and a plushie frog in the other. Stomping over to the only available seat, the one next to Xurikus, she almost slammed her cup on the table and with a thunk, sat in her chair.  
"Good. Now that we are all assembled, I need to go over the history of the nobodies." At this, the group lifted their heads, all of them interested in how it was they had become this. Kitexa knew exactly what happened, so she leaned back in her chair just slightly. She had been there, seen Organization XIII, been a part of it. She knew the original nobodies. Especially Axel. Although Anaxn's words drowned her ears, she was too lost in her memories.

Axel, number eight of the organization, the flurry of dancing flames. He was the Organization member she was closest to, along with Demyx and his constant attempts at flirting with her. But Axel was the one she doted on, the one she followed all the time. He listened to her when she needed to rant and he, unlike others, actually understood her. His views were similar to hers, after all. He, like Kitexa, was different. They both disliked the Superior of Organization XIII, Xemnas. He was wrong in saying they could not feel; Kitexa was sure of it. Axel was very close to her. She was the only one he shared information with, what he thought, what he "felt", what had happened during missions. Perhaps they were close because of their first encounter. Just after she had woken from the darkness and saw Axel, she tried to beat him up, thinking she was still under attack by the Heartless. Yes, there was definitely something between them; in her own way, Kitexa even loved him. But still, she was a nobody. Shaking her head, she focused again on what Anaxn was saying.

"Although Sora had made it through Castle Oblivion, he had lost all of his memories. Namine offered to return those memories but he would have to forget everything that happened in the Castle." At this, Kitexa let her chair fall back into place and gave her full attention to the speech Anaxn was giving. Namine had worked with her on caring for Roxas while he was still asleep in the darkness.  
"Roxas himself had been transported to an alternate Twilight Town by Diz, also known was Ansem the wise. Namine was gradually restoring his memory and eventually he returned to the other side of Sora's heart." Kitexa sighed, leaning back again. So Roxas had regained his heart. It was comforting for their cause, knowing someone had done it already.  
"Soon after, Sora woke from his sleep and was confronted by more Heartless threatening the worlds. Alongside them was Organization XIII, a group of nobodies who planned to open Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds, using the hearts that the Heartless collected. They had already lost six of their members and Sora continued to kill the others, putting them back into the darkness they came from. Finally only four were left and with the help of Riku, Sora defeated the Organization." There was silence as Anaxn resettled herself in her chair, the other nobodies still processing the information.

"However, there are pieces that are missing in this tale. For example, where we three Organization members fit." Kitexa glanced at the two other, Luxaji and Anaxn. She was right. Where did they fit in this tale? None of them remembered each other, yet they would have been in the Organization at the same time. There was an uncomfortable silence as a few of them shifted around.

"As for now, we need to settle the matter of leadership and numbers of command. As previous members of Organization XIII, I believe Luxaji, Kitexa and I should lead this group. As the one who has organized everything so far and the one who stayed in the Organization longest, I shall be number 1. Kitexa, how long did you stay in the Organization?"  
"From the beginning until the awakening of Roxas.""And you, Luxaji?" There was silence, then a sort of snoring sound from the end of the table. She had her face buried in her frog and cup held loosely in one hand. Xurikus bounced in his seat, hand raised and eager grin on his face. Anaxn nodded and he slowly began tugging the tea away from her. As soon as her arm started to unbend, she jumped up, snatching the cup back towards her and hissing at him.  
"Luxaji!" Snapping out of primal instincts mode, she looked up at the front of the table and blinked at Anaxn.  
"How long were you with Organization XIII?" She stared blankly at Anaxn, then shook her head, trying to remember through the morning haze.  
"About six months, before they moved into Castle Oblivion."  
"Kitexa shall be number 2 due to experience and Luxaji number 3. Now as number 4.…" Anaxn looked around at the still vaguely tired nobodies except one, who was bouncing in his chair, green hair flying over both shoulders and into his eyes. Kitexa glanced at him, eyebrow raised, as did Anaxn. When Kitexa first saw him, he had been swearing and certainly not looking like the leader type. But as he hadn't paid attention during the entire speech, he must have already known about Organization XIII. Or maybe he was just stupid. Staring at him for a little longer, Anaxn's eyes narrowed, then she sighed.  
"Xurikus shall be number 4 and Dekayx is number 5. Sicjexas is number 6." Looking around, Kitexa began guessing who would be next. Tasirxt was probably the oldest of them all and there was a certain aura about her. However, Naryx also had a mysterious aura, what with the sunglasses and trench coat.  
"Tasirxt is number 7" She knew it. "And Naxelaith will be number 8." Now that was a surprise. Hearing a sort of mocking noise, Kitexa turned to see Naxelaith sticking her tongue out at Xetaik, who was gritting her teeth, from across Naryx.  
"Xetaik is number 9," Now hold on. Why did Anaxn put her in ninth? Judging by the slightly amused smirk on Anaxn's face as she watched Xetaik make faces at number 8, just to piss her off.  
"Kexlly as number 10. Xathreg will be 11, and that leaves Naryx as 12." He probably would have complained, but he currently seemed to be in a vegetative state.  
"That is all. We will have a training meeting tomorrow at ten, so be ready this time." As soon as Anaxn had disappeared into a portal of darkness, the entire group rushed out the door, eager to get out of the oppressive room. Kitexa yawned following the group. Where we they all going? It's not like there was anything vital to do, she thought as she opened up a portal for herself. Maybe they were all going to sleep. Now that she thought of it, sleep was not such a bad idea.


	7. Luxaji and the Summons from Darkness

Beep, beep, beep, SMASH! Grumbling angrily, Luxaji lifted her hand from the wreckage of her alarm clock and turned over, her red covers already half off her bed.  
"Morning bad, Lux sleepy…" She moaned, snuggling back under the grey sheets. There was a click in the background as her wall of stereo systems turned on, the alarm that was preprogrammed into the clock realizing it needed to go off. A blast like a bomb exploding came from her speakers, her favorite music, and she jumped, throwing the sheets all over the place.  
"What the friek!?" As she blinked, still stunned by the blasting music, her door slammed open and her angry slightly startled neighbor stared crazily at the speaker system.  
"Turn that frieking thing off!! She screamed, balancing at the threshold of the dark room, hands braced against the door frame. Alarmed, Luxaji stumbled out of bed, tripping on a random empty pizza box, and hit the off switch.  
"Turn that thing down! I don't want to have to wake up to that every morning!" Naxelaith sighed, relaxing and going back to her room. Finally shaking off the shreds of sleep, the third in charge now grumpily stalked over to her closet, which was somehow already bursting at the seams. Snatching her usual three shirts from their hangers, she grumbled sleepily as she thought of the training meeting in about a half an hour. Exiting the room and feeling quite cross about having to wake up, a portal jumped up at her feet, leading to the kitchen.

Already the room was busy. Anaxn, having finished her breakfast, was making waffles for the rest of the group. There was a small line waiting for their food and Luxaji joined it, grabbing a plate from the cabinets on the right. Passing Dekayx who was filling a cup with coffee, she filed in behind Naryx.  
"Why do we have to have waffles?" Number four whined, staring dismally at the small pile of waffles in his plate.  
"Shut up and eat your damned waffles." Superior growled and Xurikus sulked his way into the dining room.  
"Do you like waffles? Yeah, we like waffles…" Naryx began singing, only to be hit on the head with a spatula.  
"No singing in the morning." Snarled Anaxn. Luxaji waited sleepily as the unhappy cook tried not to burn the next few waffles on the iron.  
"Here." Luxaji accepted the slightly burnt breakfast and joined the rest of the group in the dining hall. The entire gang was there eating their waffles, sans the cook and number 8. Taking her seat across from Kitexa near the head of the table, Luxaji rumbled,  
"Whoever is next to me better pass the syrup or I dump it on your head." At a growl from her right, Luxaji saw Dekayx glaring at her with her one eye, holding the syrup. Rubbing the back of her head, Luxaji carefully took the syrup out of number five's grasp.  
"Does anyone want more waffles?" Anaxn shouted from the kitchen doorway, still holding her spatula. There was silence, then a splat as Xathreg did a face plant into what remained of his breakfast.  
"I'll take that as a no." She said, walking back into the kitchen. Conversation was slow as everyone sleepily finished their food, until Superior called everyone to put away their dishes and head for the training hall.

The hall itself was huge, with a target range to the left and training dummies on the right, as well as the arena in the center. The space near the door was where Anaxn had gathered them. Beckoning Luxaji and Kitexa to her side, she then addressed the inexperienced nobodies.  
"One of the abilities of a nobody is the wielding of an element and the capacity to summon an weapon. I'll show you." Luxaji watched from the corner of her eye as the Superior summoned a bow from midair, a quiver full of red feathered arrows settling on her shoulders. Sweeping her hand in front of her, the gale startled the foremost nobodies and sent them stumbling back a few steps.  
"I can control the element of wind. Luxaji, Kitexa, demonstrate." On the other side of Anaxn, number two had pulled up a glaive in a flash of electricity, then sent a bolt of lightning through the ceiling. Staring at her hand, Luxaji summoned her gun in a flash, the light purple highlighted by a set of mirrors on the barrel. Holding up her other hand, she snapped her fingers, making the illusion that there were three of her, then sent them charging at the group, a few of whom stepped back in surprise until the illusion faded through their bodies.  
"Element of electricity."  
"Element of illusion."  
"As you can see, every nobody controls an element and weapon. Now you will be split up into groups of three under one of us, who will guide you in finding each of these. Xurikus, Tasirxt, Xathreg, come with me. Dekayx, Naxelaith and Kexlly, you go train with Kitexa. Sicjexas, Xetaik, Naryx, you all follow Luxaji." They split, Xurikus and Xathreg both looking slightly pained as they followed the Superior to the arena. Luxaji grumbled, leading her parade to the target range. Why did she have to instruct the yellow dressed perky nobody?

"Alright, listen up idiots. Try to summon your weapon from where ever it is, the darkness in your heart." Leaning against a post, she watched them screw up their eyes, holding their hands in front of them in an attempt to summon their weapons. Looking back, number three watched Anaxn explain how the absence of heart contained their weapons. With a glare from the superior, Luxaji sighed, turning back to her three charges.  
"Your weapon in somewhere in the space thing where your heart was. Feel around there." Sicjexas's eyes narrowed and sparks of darkness began forming between her outstretched palms. As Luxaji got off her post, the sparks fused, forming a long decorated scythe. Phases of the moon lined themselves along the staff edge and stars served as the ends.  
"Nice, number 6." Glancing at Sicjexas, Naryx also closed his eyes, channeling the emptiness where his heart was into his hands. A spiral of blackness began winding itself between his hands, slowly forming a wooden handle. In a flash, a scythe blade appeared at one end, and there was a clank as a ball and chain streamed from the other edge. Two scythes, interesting… Luxaji thought, now watching Xetaik in anticipation. The brightly colored nobody scrunched her face together again, now the last one to summon her weapon. Finally, the air began to mist and snow flashed as her weapon finally emerged from the darkness. The third in command leapt back, startled by number 9's weapon, although she really shouldn't have been. It was a parasol, yellow and lined with fluff.

"What the fuck?" Luxaji screamed, backing away from Xetaik, who dancing around and hugging her newfound weapon.  
"It's so cute and fluffy!"  
"Alright, shut up! Enough with the fluffy fest! Stop being so goddamned hyper and heads up!" Luxaji's gun fired off a bullet at the blue-haired spaz who screamed, holding her parasol in front of her face. Another flash and a drop in temperature accompanied the spike of ice that now encased the bullet in the space between the two.  
"Ice element." Luxaji grunted, remembering the ice element in Organization XIII, Vexen, who had helped her regain her heart.  
"Now, I'm gonna make an illusion and do whatever comes into your nonexistent brain to defend yourself. Now." With a snap of her fingers a door, wooden and seemingly solid, flew at Naryx's face. Surprised, his hands shot up and to his surprise, he felt power run through his limbs. The door stopped, floating in midair very strangely and lifted off the ground.  
"The heck??" Number three asked, staring at the floating illusion.  
"Telekinesis." Anaxn declared, watching the oddity and number eleven's shocked face. Turning back to Xathreg, he fidgeted as she growled at him,  
"Come on now, attack me!" Shrugging, Luxaji turned back to her charges and ignored Anaxn's yell of pain as she collided with the wall, caused by a blast of sound from Xathreg's metal arm.  
"There we go. That's what I want."

"Your turn Sicjexas." Although she was shaking a bit, the nobody held her ground, scythe in a defensive position. At the crack, three clones of Luxaji charged at number six, each brandishing a gun. The distance they were able to cover was unexpected and they were in Sicjexas's face before she knew it. There was a blast emanating from her scythe, stretching out beyond its ends and Luxaji's eyes widened as she watched her clones disappear into a large hole of blackness, spotted with pinpricks of light. Whirling around when she heard a whoosh, the moody nobody saw her three clones each staring at each other, just as confused as she was.  
"A space element, imagine that." The third in charge scoffed, snapping her fingers again to make her illusions disappear. Settling back on her post, Luxaji glanced at Kitexa's group. Number two had engaged Dekayx's new weapon, a large curved sword with flames as a hilt. Kexlly was standing by another one of the dummies, wielding a large hammer in her hands.

"Everyone finished?" Anaxn called, stepping down from the arena. The entire group converged in the center and Luxaji was forced to get off her post. Looking around, she took notice of the varied weapons around the room. Xurikus was proudly holding a staff topped by an hourglass in an orb, a watch inserted into the wood. The weapon obviously stated that Xurikus was the element of time. Dekayx was leaning on a large three foot sword, curved with flames on the hilt declaring that she was a fire element. Next to Anaxn was Tasirxt with one of the largest weapons of all, an almost five foot sword with a dark almost night-like metal as the blade. Swords seemed to be in abundance as Naxelaith also carried two, one the shimmering blue of water. Kexlly's hammer posed a problem, though. What was her element? Then Luxaji looked at the training area, noticing the large slabs of earth pulled up. She must be an earth element, like Lexaeus. Number three sniggered, as Lexaeus was the least amusing person in the entirety of Organization XIII. Now only one member was left not carrying a weapon, Xathreg. Still, the fact that his arm was made of metal and had been able to smash Anaxn into the wall with a blast of sound proved that that was to be his weapon of choice. Anaxn's survey of the group obviously pleased her.  
"Alright, meeting adjourned. However, I will leave your group leaders responsible for teaching you how to summon a portal. Dismissed." The leader of the group disappeared into her own darkness and again, the nobodies filed out into the entrance hall. Luxaji grumbled something about crazy superiors, heading for the kitchen to find another cup of tea.


	8. Alzaxras

As she came back to the waking world, a girl wondered why she had failed to hit the ground. She wondered about a lot of things, actually. But only when she mustered the strength to pry her gray-hazel eyes open and rise to her feet.  
Too many questions, the girl thought as she stood alone at the dark bottom of a steep gorge. Where was she? Where was this place? But she couldn't bring herself to panic. She should have been scared. But she wasn't. She couldn't be.  
She couldn't be a lot of things, she realized. Not scared, not happy, not sad; she couldn't even cringe at the fact that the ground around her was covered in blood. It wasn't right, she thought. Where there should have been warmth there was a deathly chill. Deep in her breast there should have been a rhythmic, emotional beat, but it was as still as quiet as the dead. There was nothing there. She could not feel.  
Definitely not right at all. But it didn't stop her from trying. She knew what was supposed to be there, so her face screwed up in disgust as she stepped out of the grotesque ring of blood. She didn't know if it was hers or not, but had a sick notion that it had been hers… once.  
That was her only consolidation; she could remember the concepts that should have filled that hollow in her soul. She could remember many things, she noticed. Flashes of something that might have been a lifetime sped through her mind in fast-forward. But there was no sound; all the voices were mute and burned away.  
All of this made her realize something crucial.  
She did not know who she was. There was little identity to these scattered snips of memory. She knew she had witnessed them once, but it seemed… wrong… to say she had really lived them as she was standing at the bottom of the gorge. They were from someone else's point of view now.  
The someone else's name was… was…  
"Alexandra Salazar," the girl said, wincing at the sound of her own voice. The name wasn't hers, not anymore…  
Flickers of what must have been _Alexandra's_ memory betrayed a bitter struggle with family matters, the Salazar family. Salazar. The word seemed to rearrange and warp, becoming something that was her own and binding to discover.  
"My name is Alzaxras," she said. The name brought a sense of self with it. Not a feeling. A sense: a concept.  
It was only after half an hour of walking aimlessly that she frowned in feigned annoyance. Not real, but she knew that the utter loneliness would definitely been irritating. There was absolutely no one around. No answers for her.  
Not even for something as simple as the clothes she was wearing. They didn't appear in Alexandra's memory. The other girl took mainly to simple shirts and jeans. Nowhere did there exist a trace of the short cape, the zipper top, the studded belts, the cargo pants, the leather zipper boots. Alexandra didn't even wear gloves, not even the same half gloves that Alzaxras wore. Although she approved of the ensemble she simply didn't know where it came from or even why she was wearing. But it seemed to fit and that was all that mattered. Once again, not a single answer to her newly-dubbed name.

As she was deeply wishing to be around someone who knew what was going on, the cold stony ground shifted in front of her. A smear of black blossomed and grew into a great inky portal, cold and voidlike. Alzaxras recalled a flash of dark claws and glowing eyes for a moment before she snapped out of the trance. The bitter, encompassing door beckoned invitingly. Somehow when she was relieved of human emotions her intuition had refused to leave.  
Yes, she thought, I definitely am going crazy.  
Alzaxras walked straight into the swirling dark gateway, damning to hell all odds and risk. In a dizzying spin, a flash of black, and a pierce of cold she passed into an unearthly in-between place. She didn't stop walking and when she reached the end of the short corridor the bizarre, dark sensation of sudden movement repeated itself.

It really was too bad that she expected the ground under her feet as she exited her portal. A fall, several yells, a yellow blur and the winter-chill of an icy prison were all she met. A few blurry, ice-frosted faces through the cold, glasslike trap floated into view, dull murmurs bubbling dimly outside.  
A perfect day, Alzaxras thought. Waking up in a small crater surrounded by blood. Not knowing where she was. Not knowing who she was. And now, she thought, trapped in a giant ice cube with people staring. She would need air soon. A perfect day.  
Several more muffled voices called outside and a head's measure of ice melted off her face. Alzaxras almost forgot to breathe because all of the people around but one had left.  
The person might have been around the same age as herself, with gold-tan hair and dark blue eyes that stared at her and nothing else. But she definitely was not a woman to be crossed. The serious stare and blood-red tattoos streaming down her face like sanguine tears assured Alzaxras that there definitely was something to fear here. Even if she couldn't feel it.  
In fact, what little ran through Alzaxras's head could be summed up in two words. "Oh crap," she said under her breath.  
"Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?"  
"Funny story, actually…"


	9. Xurikus and a New Development

Xurikus was skipping around the pillars, cloak and hair flying behind him. Four others were also standing in the entrance hall, watching the fourth in charge bounce around the room in mock happiness.  
"What exactly are you doing Xurikus?" Tasirxt asked skeptically, letting her weapon dissolve back into the shadows of her heart.  
"I'm frolicking in the hallway of death." He smiled, spinning around another pillar and skipped over to the next one.  
"Who was that girl?" Xathreg wondered, holding his chin with his bionic arm.  
"I don't care. She fell on me!" Xetaik pouted, leaning her parasol on one of the pillars, making a point of avoiding the skipping nobody, which he didn't notice. Dekayx had refused to answer their inquiries about the girl as she was the last one in the training hall with the superior; only Xathreg had gotten her to speak and even then, number five had only said she didn't know what was going on. And so the room relapsed into silence, only punctuated by Xurikus's clunky combat boots against the tile floor. Suddenly there was a click and Anaxn stalked from the training hall, followed by a slightly confused female, half of her brown hair tied back in a pony tail. People immediately swarmed for information but the superior's sudden rise in defensive aura made people keep back just slightly.  
"There will be a meeting today at 12. It will be short but mandatory. Inform everyone of this." As she stalked off, followed by the newcomer, there were angry mumbles from the now imposed-upon nobodies.  
"Stupid number one, thinks she can just schedule meetings whenever she wants…." Tasirxt grumbled, pulling up a portal, probably to escape this new duty.  
"Damn, I was going to go play that new videogame." Xathreg sighed, heading towards the basement. Numbers nine and five disappeared into their darkness but Xurikus merely sighed wearily and began walking up the stairs towards the library. Although he never normally went there, it seemed an inviting enough place now. It would be quiet and he could wander about, reading all the interesting book titles. As soon as he entered though, Xurikus noticed Luxaji on one of the computers listening to her headphones, the music leaking into the surrounding space, it was so loud. Sensing an opportunity to cause mayhem, Xurikus snuck up behind her, an evil grin on his face.  
"Hi Luxaji!!" Xurikus screamed, suddenly grabbing hold of her shoulders. She jumped, headphones jilted off her ears, and quickly minimized the window she was viewing.  
"What the fuck?! Xurikus, why are you here? I never thought I'd see you in a library." She asked skeptically, readjusting her headphones. Ignoring the question, he smiled and said,  
"Anaxn planned another meeting, today at twelve." Luxaji started to grumble, but number four interrupted her.  
"You won't believe why. A girl fell on Xetaik." This was met with silence and a raised eyebrow.  
"The color blind acid trip? Why is that important?"  
"The girl came from a darkness portal." Again, silence and Xurikus skipped up the stairs towards the observation tower, leaving Luxaji to grumble about the lack of information.

Xurikus flipped leisurely through the pages of a book that Anaxn, if she found it in the library, would have most likely banned and destroyed. Putting it on the couch next to him with a sigh, he stared into the blackness of the World-That-Never-Was. It had been maybe two weeks since he had become a nobody, and he still wasn't used to it. Then again, was it possible to get used to not having a heart? The lack of emotions made his actions meaningless but he put as much energy into them as he could, as though doing it enough would make it have meaning. The idea of emotions though was such a hard concept for him to let go of. Anaxn seemed to have managed it, but look at her! She wouldn't even tell you the time of day if it meant she had to speak. Sighing, he leaned back more, setting his hands behind his head and watching how the light was reflected on the glass. His eyelids fluttered closed, letting blend together the lights, shadows and reflections. Suddenly Xurikus jumped up, grabbing the back of the couch and scooting away from the glass. His eyes were wide, mouth agape in confusion, but not fear. He couldn't feel fear. Had another face really been there, floating in the glass near where his face had been? Xurikus glanced around, checking the room for other people. There was no one there. If he had a heart it would be racing, but he didn't so he quickly calmed down. A face where there was no one there. How strange. He wondered if it would be his friend. Checking the watch on the back of his glove, he stood, preparing to leisurely make his way down to the meeting room.

As usual, he was one of the last to make it to the meeting hall. Only Tasirxt and Dekayx weren't there; everyone else was staring intently at the girl in the thirteenth seat. Her confusing outfit was highlighted by a short cape, crossed and studded belts, fingerless elbow gloves and her brown hair, half pulled into a ponytail and most left loose at shoulder length. Although she glanced at him with her grey-hazel eyes, the girl returned her gaze into the middle distance, ignoring the rest of the stares and whispers aimed at her. Taking his seat next to Kitexa and Sicjexas, he looked attentively around the table at the intrigued faces, especially Anaxn, whose face revealed nothing about this new girl. Numbers 5 and 7 finally arrived and beside sending them a cold glare, Anaxn ignored them and let the group settle as much as they could with a new arrival.  
"As you all well know, we have an new nobody with us. This is Alzaxras, and she will be joining us in our search for our hearts, which brings me to our next point. We have not yet named our group." Anaxn fell silent and even Xurikus was semi-quiet as he though about a name for their rag tag group. It was quite a while before anyone was actually heard.

"We should have a name similar to Organization XIII." Number IV commented finally, holding his chin in his hands. The rest of them stared at him strangely; he had actually said something intelligent which, as they had learned in the past few weeks, was almost impossible. However, there were a few murmurs of assent.  
"We do have thirteen members." Said Naryx thoughtfully, adjusting his dark glasses. Another pondering silence settled tentatively over the table.  
"I've got it! Guild XIII!" Luxaji stood and exclaimed from across the table.  
"Guild XIII…." Anaxn murmured, her brow furrowing. As she looked around the table for affirmations, she stood up.  
"Are we decided then?" Everyone nodded except Alzaxras, who was simply staring at the superior.  
"Alright then. We are now Guild XIII. Dismissed." As was now usual, Anaxn disappeared into the shadows and several of the other less social nobodies did so as well. Xurikus himself decided to go bother Xathreg and skipped out of the room.


	10. Dekayx and Remembered Anger

The lights of Dekayx's room blared on automatically and the female clawed at her eyes in pain, immediately unhappy at being woken up. Quickly finding her mask and eye band, she switched off the lights, leaving her in the darkness she so enjoyed. Growling and rolling out of bed, Dekayx slunk over to her dresser, pulling out her usual uniform. Getting dressed with one eyes in the dark was difficult, but even with only two weeks of experience, Dekayx could pull it off. Pulling on her heavy boots, the girl exited her room for her four o'clock walk. Wandering towards the window that dominated the second floor, the fiery nobody stared into the blackness that was indistinguishable from the thorns on the glass. What would it be like if there was light outside? If a Kingdom Hearts was shining pale light on the ground? She didn't wonder these things often, but occasionally the thought of what it was like popped into her head. Shaking the flame-colored locks of her hair, Dekayx walked down the stairs to the training hall.

The entire castle was dark, with no light coming from anywhere. It was the same in the training hall until she flipped the switch. Thankfully the lights here were not as bright, illuminating the room with a diffuse white. Breaking the silence by walking into the arena, number five summoned her sword, the hiss of flames accompanying the shadows. Giving it an experimental flourish, she then launched into her routine, slashing and charging the air. Kitexa had suggested a drill for her, but number five had created her own. One thing Dekayx could never stand was being given a demeaning task. It angered her, in a sense. It was a sort of rumbling in her chest that she couldn't create herself, like a fleeting ember that went out if you tried to grab it. But embers never last long anyway, and this supposed anger burned out quickly. She didn't believe that they could "feel" emotions as nobodies, like some of the other pansies did. Dekayx's gruffness and short temper were all part of her personality, not something that she "felt". Even when she expressed these things, they felt like empty threats: something only spoken, never done. Forcing power through her arm and into her sword, Dekayx lit her tachi aflame. Watching it flicker with a sort of evil spark in one violet eye, number five then focused her eyes on a spot on the floor, willing it to flare. This sort of mastery was new to her, a higher level of control so as not to burn the castle down. Secretly she wondered if it even could burn. Training dummies left in this hall overnight fixed themselves and all signs of wear and tear in the training hall were gone the next morning. It was like the castle could take care of itself. Snorting in self-satisfaction, Dekayx reveled inwardly as fire whirled on a floor tile a few feet away. Kitexa had said that Axel was able to summon an entire wall of flame to pen an opponent in. Well, Dekayx was going to be better.

It had been maybe three or four hours and Dekayx was still training, not tired in the least. Perhaps there was something to be said for the nothingness that kept a chokehold on her body. The heavy training hall door opened behind her, slamming shut after a few seconds, but it drew no reaction from number five. This morning routine had been established a long time ago without there being anything spoken between them.  
"Morning Anaxn." The cold female nodded to her subordinate, a gesture unnoticed by Dekayx as it was made behind her back, and walked over to the target range to the fire element's left. The superior's bow was already strung left to right across her chest, as it always was in the morning, and her quiver crossed it perpendicularly. Facing down the center isle, Anaxn began pulling off her bow when a hand on the wood stopped her.  
"What do you think you're doing?" Dekayx asked, giving her superior a cocky smile. Number 1 turned her head just slightly, the empty look in her eyes barely interested.  
"I need a challenge and slashing air's too easy. Fight me." She challenged boldly. In all the two weeks they had existed, no one had challenged Anaxn's superiority. Everyone had accepted this as fact and with her stand-offish personality, no one had any need to. The cold female stared at her for a few more seconds, then pulled her bow from her shoulders completely and took a step away from the target range. The fire element grinned; this was going to be exciting, or at least would be if she had feelings. She could already _feel_ the energy running through her body like liquid fire. Her only battles had been with Kitexa, her instructor, and although the girl was number two, that wasn't good enough for Dekayx. She wanted _power_ and the best way to do that was to fight the best.

They took a few steps apart, each readying themselves. Number five had long since put away her tachi and the superior was holding her arrow carefully in its notch. The black topped girl preferred fighting with her hands as her main style. They stared at each other with blank looks that each somehow promised challenge, Dekayx's with napalm and the promise of burned flesh, Anaxn's with bruises and an aching body. Number five charged first, leaping up and aiming for her superior's head with her heavy boot. Giving a slight kick with her feet, Anaxn sent herself backwards, avoiding the now flaming boot by just enough to feel the heat. She loosed an arrow at point blank range, aiming for her subordinate's chest, but the girl's arms quickly crossed and burst into flames, incinerating all but her arrow's point. As soon as number five landed, she began running in a fast circle around her superior, blurring with the acceleration. Anaxn had pulled another arrow from her quiver and seemed to be waiting patiently for her subordinate to strike. Her blank, almost bored look irked Dekayx to no end, although it was a hollow annoyance. Finally as the fire element came around to face number one, she slung her back arm around at Anaxn, the fireball in her palm aimed at her head. The fire element smiled as Anaxn's blue eyes widened, the fire reflected in them as it flared. Moving fast, number one dropped to the floor as through pulled by a vacuum, making Dekayx curse as the fireball passed over her head with a rush of air. Still crouched on the ground, the superior tilted her body up and took quick but careful aim at number five's head. The red fletched arrow thrummed towards its mark, its quick release matched by an equally quick cross block by the target. But it wasn't fast enough and the point of the arrow skimmed the nobody's hand and left cheek, making a slit in the mask and skin that would have bled if she had a heart. The fire element stood stunned, feeling the cut sting in protest to exposure to open air. Her hand lifted slightly, as though to assure her that it was there on her blind side, then her uncovered right eye caught the distortion from Anaxn just in time. Her right foot pushed off into a twist and just barely avoided the blast of wind aimed at her.

That does it, Dekayx thought as she grit her teeth, slapping her hand together in front of her masked mouth. No more obeying her instructor's limits. The fire element pulled in a deep breath of oxygen, focusing entirely on her superior's emotionless face, and spat head sized flames from her mouth. The fireballs swarmed the wind element, whose eyes narrowed, and she tumbled to the side, leaving her bow on the ground and slipping out of her quiver. Number five grinned with an echo of nastiness, watching as the now disarmed nobody dodged the flying flames, a few close calls scorching her hair and cloak. She felt the traces of exhilaration, victory and eagerness swarming the edge of her mind and, setting flames licking around her hand and stepping over the now dissolving weapons, she charged her superior. The shorter woman looked up from the crouch she had ended up in and the flame-haired nobody snarled, grabbing her superior's face and lifting her to her feet. She sent power, the nothingness that inhabited her heart, coursing into her hand, fire flaring and leaving black marks between her fingers on the other woman's face, smiling viciously.

Then, from behind number five's hand and through the crackling of fire, Anaxn muttered, "Bad idea."

The pyromaniac's feet were suddenly swept out from under her and her grip was wrenched off as a torrent of wind surrounded number one. Giving a cry of anger as she was thrown backwards into the combat dummies, the fire element included a creative swear into her screaming once she saw the gale wind dome that blurred her superior's form. Landing dexterously about twenty feet away, she quickly stood, growling as she summoned her tachi. She had been this close to beating her!, Dekayx thought almost vehemently, lighting her weapon with roaring flames reminiscent of her remembered rage. It seemed that the superior had not been given her title for nothing after all. This fight was going to be more difficult than she expected, the black haired woman thought as she rushed the now becalmed and standing nobody. Bringing her flaming sword whistling above her head, the charging nobody swung down towards her opponent's shoulder when she heard,  
"Stop." And with that, the blow was stopped by Anaxn's hand, blade caught between her fingers. Number five stood shocked, staring with her one violet eye at the sword in her hand, which was now sheer black metal without a lick of flame or heat. Then she caught a flicker of movement and comprehension came crashing over her head. Number one had created a vacuum of air around her tachi, both creating the distortion she had seen and sucking away the oxygen needed for her flames to burn. Feeling irrationality tinge her personality, Dekayx turned to glare at the shorter woman and was stopped by her stare, sapphire colored eyes emphasized by the scarlet lines marked down her face. Anaxn let go of the fire element's sword, which the combat enthusiast then let dissolve into dark threads and ashes, and turned away.  
"The rest are up." She deadpanned, and began calmly walking towards the door, her bow and quiver simply reappearing in their respective places with only a shimmer of darkness. Number five watched her walk away, even still as the marble doors ground shut. Then she scoffed, storming back over to the combat dummies and punching one of them so hard her knuckles ached. What right did she have to end their match? Matches were won through victory over the other and not ended until the loser had died; or, for a merciful person, been incapacitated. Another hollow rush of anger throbbed in her and she directed it through her leg to slam into the combat dummy, the echo of feeling dissipating into the air upon impact. That was the law of combat, and nothing less would be accepted. Growling in frustration, at both her superior and her inability to retain her anger, she began her daily training regimen, punching and kicking her target.  
"One of these days," She snarled, "I will defeat you!"

Lunch was the only meal Dekayx ever deigned to eat; partly due to a deeply ingrained habit from her other, and partly due to her refusal to acknowledge she had once been human. Wolfing down what remained of her chicken wrap, the fire element started on her pasta salad. That the fridge always contained what she wanted no longer intrigued her. The castle could do whatever it damn well pleased, as far as she was concerned, considering she spent 17 of her 18 waking hours in the training hall. Her next bite of salad was rudely interrupted by a finger jabbing at her shoulder.  
"See, look! She's got them too!" The girl's flame-tinged black hair turned all the way over to the speaker, as only her right eye was uncovered by her headband, and finally noticed number nine and three, the latter's finger poking into the fire element's arm. Irritated by this invasion of space, she directed a stray wish to light the third's digit on fire before pulling around the cloth of her shirt to see what they were pointing at. A circle of white surrounding a blue heart was patched seamlessly onto the shirt. But the black outlining the image and the threatening way in which a few large strands of darkness curled around and seemed about to pierce the center of the heart spoke for itself. Dekayx noticed again that the illusion element had yet to stop poking her arm, and the remnants of anger that had been pressurizing inside her lashed out. A huge strike of flame cut down the center of the table, startling Naryx across from her by slicing his pizza box in half, and number five snarled savagely. She released a shell of fire around her, forcing Luxaji and Xetaik to back away, and blasted her chair into smithereens. Flaming sections of wood flew across the dining room and the four nobodies in the hall took cover under the ravaged table as fire spat and roared. Finally the fire element roared in exhasperation and stomped out the door, edges of her clothing and hair still flaming from the ourburst. Number twelve peered out from under the table long enough to see her burning footprints pass into the training hall.

Dekayx trod slowly up the massive staircase to her bedroom, holding the railing under her firm but weak grip. As soon as her instructor had woken up, she had demanded a battle, which number two at first declined until the fire element threatened to burn her if she didn't. It did not go as she desired. Not only was Dekayx recovering from her bout with Anaxn, but Kitexa was still number two, despite not being the superior. Dekayx would not say that she was tired, despite having trained to the limits of her nothingness. She would not say that her body still ached from being thrown into the wall by the short woman's wind dome. And she would not admit that her body was still spasming from her instructor's lightning bolts. The brunette had ended their match so she could eat dinner, although her expression said that she worried for the fire element's health. The black haired girl snorted angrily as she mounted the final step and turned down the left hallway. She was nobody; health was an illusion to her.  
Then suddenly something flew over her head and she ducked instinctively. Glaring upwards, she saw the tail end of a black cloak and boots glide by and a green-topped head turned around to look at her with an overly enthusiastic grin.  
"Look!" Xurikus yelled back at her, arms waving frantically. "Time is flying!" Whatever else he was going to say was cut short by the fact that he hit the end of the hallway rather hard. Not even looking back to see who cheered, "Did it work, Xurikus?", Dekayx trudged wearily into her room, making sure to hit the idiot with her door as she did.


End file.
